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Sunday, August 28, 2011

On The Road

Daily Draw: Celtic Book of the Dead ~ Wheel

The Wheel asks us to recognize what we've learned from the past. I last used this deck August 2009 when my father-in-law was on his own travels to the otherworld. The dementia stealing his brain was in full throttle and each day he would say "can we go for a ride?" So we did. Thousands of miles, within two hours of the farm, driving random roads. That August he was speaking very little, but the passing countryside kept him far more alert than sitting in a chair in his living room. Occassionally he would recognize something and connect it to a memory, but mostly he just watched, I just drove. Him running to the otherworld, me running from it.

I'm reminded by this card, sometimes a wheel is a wheel; and can be used to our advantage in our own search.

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." ~ John Bingham 1948-

Celtic Book of the Dead is a oracle, 136 page soft cover book by Caitlin Matthews, deck of 42 cards illustrated by Danuta Mayer, published 2001 by Grange Books Plc, long out of print. To quote the book, "this deck is to be read by or to the person, while alive, in preparation for the journey to come"; Celtic stories to guide us to the Otherworld or immrama. Some of the cards are locations on the adventure, others are tools.

Why Cards, you ask?

The cards open previously closed doors to my own heart with their merciless quest for the truth, nothing but the truth. They flay the soul and make me say thank you afterward.Each hour spent with my cards is a new lesson to be learned. Viva la Journey.